Switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy

I hear the right-wing talking heads gearing up to stand in the way of progress of any upcoming climate change legislation. Instead of cap and dividend or cap and trade, I hear them renaming these ideas cap and tax.

Call it what you like, but we all pay a tax everyday by just stepping out our front doors and breathing. The American Lung Association's 2009 State of the Air Report states "10.8 million Pennsylvania residents (6 out of 7) are at risk from air pollution."

A lot of that air pollution comes from fossil-fuel-burning power plants. It's time to shift that burden from our lungs to the pockets of the big polluters profiting from the pollution they spew into the air. Why are they allowed to treat the atmosphere as their own personal garbage dump when we all share the air equally?

It's time to switch from the outdated fossil-fuel burning and polluting economy to one based on clean, renewable energy. These forms of energy can be made cheaper by switching subsidies from coal, oil and gas to solar, wind and geothermal.

We have a work force itching to get back to work. Put it to work building wind turbines and solar panels. Train it to maintain the wind turbines and install solar. That kind of work can't be outsourced. Leave the fossils in the ground where they belong and we'll all breathe easier.